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(No Model.)

. 2 Sheets-Sheet 1. W. W. LE GRANDE. ELECTRIC RAILWAY SIGNAL. 7 No. 272,276. Patented Peb.13,1883.

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2 Sheets-Sheet. 2.

(No Model.)

w. w. LE GRAND'E. ELEGTRIG RAILWAY SIGNAL.

No. 272,276. Patented Feb. 13,1883.

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6Z2 i arnay UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM W. Lu GRANDE, or LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY, ASSIGNOR 0F 7 ruann-rooerns TU oEoRen WOLF, F. DE FUNIAK, AND T. J. rorrmone, ALL OF SAME PLACE.

ELECTRIC RAlLWAY-SIGNALn SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 272,276, dated February 13, 1883.

Applicationfiled August 29,1882. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that [,WILLIAM W. LE GRANDE, a citizen-0t the United States of America, residing at Louisville, in the county of Jefferson and State of Kentuckey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electric Railway-Signals; and I do hereby declare the following to be a 'full,clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to open circuits for simultaneously operating railway-signals located at the opposite endsof a section of track to beprotected thereby, its object being to secure a constant resistance in such circuits, and thereby insure the uniform working of electromagnetic signal-instruments arranged therein.

To this end the invention consists mainly in the combination, with an overground line extending between the two ends of a railwaytrack section, and electromagnetic signalsarrangedinsa d line at the oppositeends thereof, of the two lines of rail forming said track-section and connected to said over-ground line as parallel terminals, one line of the rails be-. ing connected to the overground line at one endof the section, and the other being connected thereto at the opposite ends of said section, so that, at whatever point the two lines of'rails may be connected by the wheels and axles-of a car or locomotive traveling thereon, the resistance of the circuit traversed by the current of a battery will be always the same.

The invention also consists in certain minor features having in view economy and convenience of construction, and which will be here-' inafter particularly described, and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of an electromagnetic signal-instrument designed for use in my imsecured to the side wall of the box.

instrument, and D,-the movable signal operated thereby. The signal D is carried by a pendulum-rod, d, which carries a counterweight, d, at its upper end, and is intermediately secured rigidly to one end of a shaft, 6, which has its hearings on vertical standards ff, projecting from a base-plate, g, which is Upon the opposite end of the shaft 0 from the sig- 7o nal-rod is secured a disk, h, having crankpin, 2', projecting from its face. This pin iis vembraced by a fork, It, formed at the end of an armature-lever, Z, which is fulcrumed in the usual manner upon a standard, m, fixed upon the base-plate, and carries an armature,

n, arranged to be attracted by the cores of an electro-magnet, 0, which is also supported by the base-plate g. When the sign al-rod d hangs in a vertical position, as shown in full lines in 50 Fig. 1, the signal D is hidden behind the boxwall, and the stationary disk B is visible through the opening a. When the signal-rod is in this position the pin z'of the'disk It stands a little to one side of the vertical in the direc- 8 tion of the lever I, so that said pin will be off the dead-center with respect to the down ward pressure of the upper prong of the fork is, which rests upon the pin. It will now be observed that it the forked end of the lever 0 moves downward it will act upon the pin t to turn the disk h and shaft 0 in the direction of the arrow and throw the signal-rod and signal to the position indicated by dotted lines, thus placing the movable signal D in front of the 5 stationary signal B, exposing the former through the opening a, and hiding the latter. Supposing the stationary signalB to be white,

to indicate safety,and the movable signal D to bered, to indicate danger, it will be seen that when in strumentO is notoperated-that is,

l downward-the danger-signal will be in the position shown in full lines, and hidden behind the box-wall, and the white signal B will be visible through the opening a. indicating safetybut when the instrumentis operated and the armature is attracted, the lever I will throw the red signal D to the position shown in dotted lines, and indicate danger.

In practice in railway-signaling. the electromagnet is to be charged for operating the instrument by means of a local battery, the

opening and closing of the circuit of which is controlled by an ordinary relay included in a main-line circuit, and this main-line circuit is arranged to he broken amt closed automatically by a car or train on a railway-track, as will be hereinafter explained.

The letter It indicates a relay inclosed in the box with the signal-operating instrument, and having one of its local binding-posts, 9, connected with one terminal of the coils of magnetO by a wire, s,its other local binding-post, 'I'. being connected by a wire, .3, with one pole of a local battery, which is conventionally indicated at S, while the opposite pole of said battery is connected by a wire, 8 with the other terminal of the magnet-coils. The mai nline binding-posts t and 1 are to be connected in a main-line circuit in the usual manner,and it will be obvious that when the main-line circuit is closed the relay will be operated to close the local circuitand cause the operation of the signal 0. The relative weightsof the counterweight d and the signal D are so adjusted that when the magnet O is not charged, and the armature consequently not attracted, the signal-rod (I will swing freely to its vertical position, the pin i torcing upward the lever l, and causing the armature n to be retracted from the poles of the magnet to a position where it is ready to be again attracted for operating the signal. By this arrangement I avoid the use of a retracting-spring for the armature, such springs being unreliable when exposed to frequent variation of temperature, as is necessarily the case in railway-signal apparatus. I, moreover, cause the signal itself to replace the parts in position for its operation after being once operated, and thus secure a prompt co-operation between the signal and its moving devices. It will be observed that the signal-rod hangs freely in a position from which its movement is least opposed by gravity when the armature n is farthest removed from the poles of the magnet, and the least under the influence of the attractive power of the magnet-cores when charged; but as the signal is moved to one side in an upward arc and the opposition of gravity to its movement increases, the armature approaches the magnet-cores, which thus are enabled to exert an increased attractive force upon it, which compensates the increased resistance of gravity to the movement of the signal. I am thus enabled to use less battery-power and a less powcase were the strongest resistance opposed to the power of the magnet when its armatureis farthest from its poles, as is usually the case. The counterpoise-weight is so regulated that the least resistance consistent with its prompt return will be opposed to the initial movement of the signal.

In Fig. 3 I show a double signal-box containing two signal-moving instruments and two relays. These instruments are for convenience arranged in reverse position the instrument 0 being arranged to swing its movable signal for exposure in the opposite direction to that of instrument 0. The instruments are otherwise precisely similar in their construction and connections. Such a double box is arranged at each signaling-pointin the system of block signaling circuits illustrated in the diagram Fig. 2, and each relay of the box is connected in the same short main line with one of the relays in another similar box at another sigualing-point, the two boxes being located at opposite ends of a section of railway to be protected thereby,sothat when the. mainline circuit. connecting the boxes is closed a movable signal will be displayed at each end of the block or section.

Referring to the diagram Fig. 2, the letters as, w, 00 and x indicate separate sections of railway, lines of rails of which are insulated or separated slightly trom each other at the points y, which are the signaling-points. The rails z of each line of the sections respectively are electrically connected to form portions of the main line.

The letters A A, and A indicate double signal'boxes, such as shown in Fig. 3.

The letters 0 C and It R designate the signal-moving instruments and relays, respectively, as in Fig. 3. The relay R of box A has one of its binding-posts connected by a Wire, 10 with one of the lines of rails of section of track as, and its other binding-post is connected by awire, 10*, with one pole of a mainline battery, V. the other pole of which is connected by a wire, to, with one binding-post of the relay R in the box A at the other end of the section, and the other binding-post of this relay 1% is connected by a wire, to, with the opposite line of rails of section at from that to which the relay of box A is connected. The wires 10 w w 20 constitute the overgroundline, and the two lines of rails of a track-section are the parallel terminal portions thereof, between which only will connection be made for closing the circuit. Theselines of rails being connected at ditierentends with the opposite terminals of the oi 'erground-linc, it will be readily seen that, at whatever point connection is made between these linesot' rails, the whole length of the closed main circuit will be the same and the resistance thereof constant, so that the instruments may have a uniform resistance and adjustment, which may be determined with ease and accuracy, and their proper working thereby secured. It will now be seen that if the two lines of trails of the section of track 00 be electrically. connected, the circuit of the main-line battery V i will be closed through the relays R and Rof the boxes A and A and these relays will close the circuits of the localbatteries S and S, which actuate thesignal-instruments O andO' of the two boxes, and cause them to display danger-signals at the openings at a of the boxes, respectively. This display of danger-signals at the opposite endsof. the section will occur every time the two lines of rails are connected by the wheels and axles of a car or train, (which, in the present instance, is represented by the pair of wheels and con meeting-axles shown at at each end of each track-section or block whenever a carer train is thereon, and the engineer of a locomotive approaching thesec- .tion at either end will see a danger-signal displayed towarn him that a train or car is on the section heis approaching. Bythis arrangement of main circuits I am enabled to use small and inexpensive main-line batteries, and to readily locate any faults which may occur on the main line. 1

The term parallel or lapping terminals, herein employed means one line of therails being connected to the overground line at one end of the section, and the other line connected to said overground line at the other end of the section.

I am aware that it. is not new to provide an electriccircuit with parallel or lapping termithe combination, with an overground line extending between the two ends of a railwaytrack section and electromagnetic signals arranged in said lines at the opposite ends thereof, of the two lines of rails forming said track section and connected. to said/overground line as parallel or lappingterminals, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

- 2. The combination, with the overground line, the lines of rails forming parallel or lapping terminals thereof, anda main battery included in circuit, of the relays at opposite ends of the track-section, the two local-battery circuits arranged to be opened and closed by said relavs simultaneously, and the electric magnetic signal-moving instruments included in said local circuits, respectively, substantially as described.

3. The combination, with a series of separate railway-track sections and an overground line for each section, said overground lines having the separate lines of rails of their respective track-sections connected thereto as parallel or lapping terminals, substantially as described, of the double signal-boxes located at the ad- 'jacentends of each two sections and contain ing each two electromagnetic signal apparatuses, which are connected in the overground lines of the two sections, respectively, as set forth.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM W. LE GRANDE.

Witnesses:

- E. CLARK,

'1. J. Po'r'rmeen. 

